


#baristalife

by fan_nerd



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-06 16:36:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8760664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fan_nerd/pseuds/fan_nerd
Summary: Victor, proud owner of Muse café and roastery, goes searching for a local bakery to buy sweets for his store. When he does, he finds Yutopia, a quaint little place tucked away in a small part of town.The good news is, he quickly becomes business partners with the lead patissier, Yuuri.The bad news is, he finds Yuuri heartbreakingly, disastrously attractive.





	

**Author's Note:**

> quench your #thirst
> 
> tbh,,,i can't believe,,,i haven't read a coffee shop au in this fandom yet? what the,,,
> 
> thanks for stopping by and reading this mess. luv you guys!! ♥  
>  ~~EPISODE TEN CHANGED MY LIFE, I'VE WATCHED IT LIKE SIX TIMES ALREADY, KILL ME NOW!!! OTL~~

Yuri nods along with his music until his boss comes along and smacks a hand down on the roasting notebook. "We need new hires," the man says breathlessly, silver hair falling in his face with a huff.

"Okay," Yuri mutters back angrily, noting the temperature of the roast and flicking his eyes to the color of the beans before he continues muttering. "Let's discuss this when I finish."

"You're a good multitasker," Victor assures the blonde with his syrupy voice, and the teenager kicks his uncle directly in the shins.

The timer clips past the six minute mark. "Yes. Roasting is already an art built on multitasking, so leave me alone." Victor goes off to sulk at his desk, which is tucked away next to organized stacks of dog magazines and incredibly important documents.

Their family has been in the coffee business in some way for generations, so the two of them continue the legacy, no matter how sloppily. Victor was the one who had decided to break way from product management to create a storefront, and although things have been rocky, he's currently doing so much business between the storefront, wholesale roasting, and certain local events that the two of them alone can't manage to keep the store afloat.

As if summoned by their bickering, a line of five young adults marches in, and Victor flounces off to the bar to charm them. Seduced by his handsome face and deceiving words, most people will buy beans from him and overpriced, hyper-flavored lattes because he sounds so good when he's talking about them that they cannot resist. Most days, this fact infuriates Yuri, who would much rather be fiddling with the levers on the roaster and nailing the formats for their pour over coffees than speaking to customers.

Once Victor clears out his line and Yuri drops the roast, the two of them gather at the makeshift meeting table smack dab in the middle of the back room. "We should move locations."

"I've only been here for two years," Victor pouts. "I've just started to build a clientele with the community. That won't solve our problem with staffing."

"It  _would_ if we had a less shitty place for people to work," the teenager grouses. "Alright, wise guy, what do you suggest?"

Victor smiles like a madman, and Yuri immediately groans, knowing that this expression can spell nothing but trouble.

//

Yuuri Katsuki doesn't usually walk his dog in this particular park on Saturday mornings, mostly because he's already knee deep in pastry sales by this time, but he's managed to squeeze a much-needed rest day in thanks to the rest of the staff. His family bakery, which his parents had embarrassingly named after him, is already fairly busy from day-to-day. Unfortunately, the weekends bring huge orders and even bigger crowds, and as their star patissier, it's rare that he can get away. About a month back, they had hired a South Korean boy to help out, and he's more than proficient enough to allow Yuuri a vacation day or two.

So, he gets to walk his dog, enjoy the park, and, surprisingly, discover the neighborhood farmer's market. It's the middle of the summer, so it's swelteringly hot as he walks around in his sandals and a visor. He smiles as people buy jam, bread, vegetables, and more. Eventually, a stand catches his eye, the tent banner reading  _Muse_ _Coffee Roastery_ and a young blonde man with headband cat ears standing there, being cooed over by a group of women and old men.

The blonde is surly, but he's handing out heaping cups of cold brew, and Yuuri finds that the idea sounds enticing. Besides, the kid is kind of adorable, snarling and bunching his brows up in the shade. He walks over and commands his dog to wait while he fishes cash out of his back pocket. When he makes it to the front of the crowded line, he asks, "How much is it?"

"Three dollars,"  _Muse_ 's stand vendor grunts. He takes the money from Yuuri's hand and goes to the side, fishing ice out of a cooler and filling the plastic cup.

"Do you have a store?"

"Yeah," the young man replies quietly. "My uncle runs the place and I help him out. It's about ten minutes up the freeway." After he hands Yuuri the coffee, he fishes inside of his cash box and hands the brunette a business card with stylized font all over it, a phone number, and an address.

"Huh," Yuuri hums, blanking on whether there had always been a café in the listed building. "How long has this place been in business?"

"About two years," he says, frustratingly toying with the ears on his hair before putting a hand on his hip. "Do you need cream?"

"Huh? Oh, what, no, I'm fine," Yuuri replies, holding up his hand. "What's your name?"

"It's Yuri," the blonde says, and Yuuri blinks, immediately laughing. "What's so funny?"

"It's just, that's my name too," Yuuri finishes snickering. "I didn't think there were that many people with the name in the states."

"Are you Russian?" The teenager asks with a raised brow.

"No, my parents are Japanese."

"Hmm," the barista studies him with his eyes. As Yuuri waves and starts to walk away, he says, "See you later."

Yuuri takes a sip of his coffee and hums as he tugs on his poodle's leash. "I'll try to stop by."

//

After three weeks of sending his nephew out to various events in town with cat ears on, handing out calling cards, and posting a variety of advertisements online, Victor winds up with three new hires. One of them is a young woman with nut-brown skin and a pleasant smile named Sara, another is a dark-skinned young man named Phichit, and the last is a pale-skinned man named Emil. The three of them are welcoming, happy, interested in coffee, and they live nearby, which works vastly to Victor's benefit. By having these three work the bar, he can work more on his community outreach, and Yuri can focus on roasting beans.

He trains them to use the espresso machine, how to brew coffee by hand for pour overs, and teaches them how best to keep the store tidy. After a month or so, he gifts all of them keys, and keeps an eye on them between visits to the grocery store and his paperwork.

Victor makes sure that Yuri is comfortable roasting with the rest of them running around, chatting up customers. Yuri takes the time out of his roasting days to educate their new staff members on the different flavors of the coffees, on their origins and processes. It's a lot to take in, but he allows the newcomers to ask him questions, permitted that he isn't at the second half of his roast. Yuri tells Victor that he's comfortable with the staff, so Victor flounces off to god-knows-where after giving Sara, Phichit, and Emil his number for emergencies.

He drives around town to introduce himself to local businesses owners - some of whom he's talked to, and some that he hasn't.

After he stops inside of two bakeries, the third one he happens upon is a couple exits away from  _Muse_ , a little spot named  _Yutopia_. He's already intrigued by the name, and he hopes that the owners are friendly and willing to listen to him.

Once he gets there, it takes him by surprise. The place is decorated like a café, but there isn't much sitting space. There are glass cases for the refrigerated goods, of course, and an espresso machine with a few cups stacked on top of it on the back counter. Besides this, the shelves are lined with breads and covered with plastic lids. Overall, the variety is not overwhelming and quite beautiful. It feels like a humble, wonderful-smelling home.

"Hey," the woman at the counter greets him with a lopsided grin. "Morning. You need a second to take a look around?"

"Oh, sorry," Victor says in a daze, snapping on his business smile. "Would it be alright for me to talk to the owner of this place?"

"They're out right now," the woman replies. "What did you wanna ask about?"

"My name is Victor," he introduces himself, fishing a business card out of his wallet. "I own a café about ten minutes up the away from here, and I was wondering if you guys would be interested in stocking some of our coffee. I also came to ask about perhaps selling your pastries at my place."

"Well," the bakery attendant hums for a long moment, putting a hand to her chin. "Technically speaking, my parents own the place, but my brother can probably get some of that stuff worked out with you. I can go see if he can talk, if you want to wait?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Victor replies breezily.

She dusts her hands off on her apron before heading to the back. The door jingles to let in two small senior women, so Victor moves out of the way and sweeps his arms with a grin so that they know they can go up to the counter. They chuckle as they move up, murmuring to themselves about what they're going to get.

When the employee door opens again, a baby-faced man comes out, flour spattered across his face, on his glasses, and on his white apron, which is embroidered with the name of the bakery. "Hi," the man murmurs quietly, taking his glasses off to blow the dust off. "I'm Yuuri. Hang on just a second." As soon as they're clean, he sighs and holds out his hand with a smile. "Sorry about that. So, I hear you have a couple questions about the shop. How can I help you?"

Yuuri leads them over to one of the few tables while his sister tends to the older women browsing the tarts and cheesecakes in the case closest to the register. Victor follows him with a soft smile, taking a seat across from him. "I own a café called _Muse_ , and I wanted to discuss the possibility of  _Yutopia_ carrying our coffee, among other things."

" _Muse_ ," Yuuri mumbles, eyes wandering while he thinks. "That sounds so familiar. Do you sell your coffee around town?"

"Yeah, at a few places," Victor answers easily, listing the locations they stock beans. "We also go to farmer's markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays."

Recognition dawns on Yuuri's face and he smacks his hand on his palm. "Oh! You have a blonde little brother, right? The sort of surly one."

Victor guffaws suddenly, and Yuuri colors, knowing that he's somehow screwed up. "No, no, he is my nephew, Yuri."

"Ah, that's right. I knew I remembered for some really obvious reason," Yuuri laughs at his own words. "I haven't been able to go for a few weeks, but I saw him a couple times back in July."

"Oh!" Victor beams excitedly. "And, how was the coffee?"

"It was great," Yuuri admits sheepishly. "I'd definitely love to have some at the shop."

"Wonderful." Victor sits up straight, fishing for his phone. "If you'll give me your email, I'll send you details for coffee. After you sample them and decide which ones you want and how much you'd like, we'll deliver the beans to you for a small fee, or you can pick them up from the shop, if you prefer." After they get the information set and add each other's contacts, he stops fiddling with his phone and smiles at the patissier again. "What kinds of things do you usually make for cafés? I'm ashamed to admit that I don't get out much these days, so I'm not sure what I should look into stocking."

"It's always something of a challenge," Yuuri answers, thinking about it. "People seem to really like croissants and scones, I guess."

"And, what do  _you_ like to make?" Victor adds quite a bit of schmooze to his tone while he says that, because, well, Yuuri  _is_ very cute.

Yuuri unexpectedly snarks back at him with a full-force blush. "Oh, I dunno. I really like making cinnamon brioche twists and imagawayaki, but those aren't that popular."

"Er," Victor stumbles with surprise, probably gaping at his prospective new business partner. "What was that second one?"

Yuuri cheeks flush even darker as he holds his hands out. "It's, um. A Japanese thing. It's a kind of cake with sweet bean paste inside. You're supposed to sell them hot, but I just like them a lot. They're really sweet, but they're kind of cool to make for, you know, special events and showcases and stuff."

"That sounds terribly unique!" Victor leans too close over the table and Yuuri scoots back in his chair. "What other kinds of Japanese things can you make?"

"Mochi, manju, and dorayaki, to name a few. Some things wouldn't be very easy to sell at a café, or be easy to transfer, so we shouldn't worry about those. For now, let's start safe, and then you can branch out once you establish a customer base."

Victor holds out his hand for another handshake. "Okay! Well, that certainly was productive."

"Yeah, definitely. I'll have to talk to Mom and Dad after you send me a quote, but I know they'll be happy to have some local coffee on the shelf."

"Great! Feel free to stop by my shop any time, Yuuri. I want to try _your_  sweets soon!" Victor says with a wave, and then he hurries out of the bakery.

Mari finishes dealing with the four teenagers lingering in the shop before coming back to talk to her brother, who mostly looks exhausted. "So, how'd it go?"

"That guy was _super_ attractive," Yuuri mutters into his mixing bowl, face still burning a little bit. 

"Well,  _duh_." Mari rolls her eyes as she slaps her baby brother on the back. "Anyone with eyes can see that. I was more so asking about the meeting."

"It went well. Pretty sure we'll have a new client soon. Seems like he's pretty busy."

"Yeah," Mari drawls. After seeing the man scowl, she leers and mutters, "Busy being too sexy for his own damn good."

" _Bury me_ ," Yuuri groans with a flush, knocking his head against the fridge.

//

In the afternoon, Victor stalks into the front of his café with a delighted expression painted all over his face. He waves to Phichit, who is busy wiping down the steam wand on the machine. "Sup, Victor," Phichit nods while he looks down to the ceramic cup and sticks out his tongue. He tries valiantly to get something other than a white blob out of his milk and fails.

Victor airily comments, "Try not to get so much air in it next time. That texture is alright for cappuccinos, though."

"Alrighty." Phichit carefully balances the cup on its saucer when he brings it out to a customer, then he strides back to the bar to clean up his mess. "So, how'd your adventures go?"

"Oh, wonderfully, at last." Victor flicks his bangs out of his face, heading towards the back. "Is anyone else here right now?"

"Yeah, Sara's in the back cleaning the fridge. Yuri's roasting, I think."

"Could one of you help me with the groceries?" Phichit peeks back to see if she wants to switch, and she eagerly offers to help their boss bring in cartons of milk and huge boxes with paper products. The two of them haul in the load within fifteen minutes, and Victor lowers the rickety delivery door with a heavy sigh. "I'm starting to fear that age is catching up with me."

"You're already thirty-four, old man," Yuri chimes in at last, the sound of beans hitting the agitator filling the back room. "It's about damn time."

"You are  _nineteen_ ," Victor whines. "You're only fifteen years younger than me. You'll be my age soon, and then you'll see."

"You'll always be fifteen years older than me, and I take great pride in that fact," Yuri barks back quietly and Victor huffs.

Phichit and Sara take turns putting everything away between the door chiming, and Victor leans on the roasting table while Yuri goes up to the board and checks off what he has finished. "Yura, you didn't tell me that the baker from  _Yutopia_ was cute."

"Huh?" Yuri turns around on the step stool, hair flying out of his messy bun. 

"You know, Yuuri. The man who shares your name. He said that he met you at the Saturday market."

"Oh, yeah, that guy," Yuri mutters quietly. "Wait, what the fuck? I didn't tell you  _anything_ about him. I barely remember him. All I know is that his dog's pretty cool, I guess, as far as dogs go. Sorta looks like yours, actually."

"He likes  _dogs_?" Victor hums loudly and Yuri groans with equal fervor. "You must not keep these kinds of secrets! I didn't raise you like this."

"You didn't fuckin' raise me  _at all_ , thank god."

"I taught you to watch your mouth, too! Where did I go so wrong?"

"Ugh," Yuri scoffs. "I take it that your business stuff went well, then."

"Yes! I secured two more contacts. One works with alcoholic ciders, and the other with desserts." Victor pulls out his phone to flick through the new messages, excitedly finding his inbox filling with questions about his coffee roasting and his café. "There are more potential people, but those two responded eagerly and quickly. We'll have to expand our roast profiles soon."

"Alright." Yuri's eyes flick down to his phone and he clicks his tongue. "Well, I'm gonna have to finish up. I just have two roasts left for the shelf. Can you stick around to vacuum the chaff and do those? I'll deep clean the machine tomorrow."

"Absolutely," Victor replies easily. "Take care driving to class. Keep an eye on your belongings."

"I will," Yuri says.

He finishes his task, putting lids on all the coffee tubs before sweeping out of the café, wishing Phichit and Sara good evenings, and Victor takes a seat in front of the small batch roaster, patting the old girl on the side as he opens the chaff panel. He coughs when some of it goes up his nose, and then he turns the vacuum on.

The evening passes dreamily, where he subconsciously goes through the motions of roasting the two batches of coffee, chatting with Phichit and Sara when they come back and help him get things bagged for the shelf.

//

Three months pass. Yuri eventually gets his ass handed to him by his tests, so he has to work less hours at the store. This means that Victor has to pull somebody from the bar so that he can teach them to work the roaster. Phichit has no interest in sitting around and keeping a careful eye on the beans. Truthfully, he can't taste the difference between a full-natural Mexican coffee and an entirely wash-processed Guatemala, but he can b.s. to the best of his ability, and he sells more coffee than Victor himself does, these days. Emil works a night shift at another job, so he's out as well. Sara makes up for their failings by being an incredibly fast learner, which Victor appreciates.

The other major thing that has changed is that Victor makes coffee deliveries on Mondays, Yuri makes deliveries on Fridays, and Yuuri Katsuki comes in to drop off sweets on Wednesdays.

He comes in with his old SUV, brings in three plastic tubs with pastries, takes three clean ones from the shop, and chats with the owner of the café for some time. The two of them giggle about funny videos, about the various stresses of their professions, and so forth. Victor flirts with Yuuri,  _horrendously_ , and his employees all laugh at him, because Yuuri is seemingly oblivious. Sure, he laughs at Victor's (stupid) jokes, and flushes at his advances, but he always gently pushes the older man out of his space at the end of the day, and he trots back to his family's bakery without a care in the world.

Phichit thinks it's the best thing he's ever seen, and he comments about it on his less-professional social media as often as he can.

He gives Yuuri the same thing he always orders - a cappuccino with very light honey, to go - and smiles knowingly. "Man, he sure is laying it on thick, huh?"

Yuuri rolls his eyes with a little smile. "Yeah, I guess so."

Phichit leans over the counter with the insulated cup and whisper-hisses, "You  _are_ aware that he's been flirting with you, aren't you?"

Yuuri rolls his eyes even harder, his grin tiny and private as he takes his drink. "I'm not an idiot, Phichit. Of course I am."

"And?!" Phichit has his best gossip face on, pressing his hands to his lips. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Let him figure out how to ask me out," Yuuri says with a small shrug and a telling blush. "I mean, I don't think he will, because he's always joking around a little bit,  _but_. I'm not saying I would be against it, or anything."

"I  _knew_ it," Emil whispers from the back bar, a grin splitting his face in half. "Oh damn it, you always put those special little cakes in there for him, don't you? The really weird, chewy ones!"

"Well," Yuuri whispers back to them conspiratorially, "He asked for Japanese desserts. I just told him that he wouldn't be able to sell them very well here, and, you know."

"I'm betting he cracks in two weeks," Phichit says strongly, fishing a ten dollar bill out of his wallet.

"A month," Emil says, raising him a twenty that he digs out of his jeans.

Yuuri slaps forty bucks down. "Two and a half weeks," he says quickly. They look at him quizzically, questioning his pride at the guess. "That's the weekend before my birthday."

"You  _told him your birthday_?" Phichit squeals like a young child, excited to bare witness to this shitstorm of a romance building right before his eyes. "Oh god, this is real. I can't even believe it."

"He  _asked_ ," Yuuri says with a huff, blush spreading back up to his ears. "Oh, come on. It's just good fun. What's the harm?"

"When you're thirty dollars and one boyfriend richer, we can celebrate, because our boss will finally have some time to stop talking about you and actually enjoy, you know, _being_ with you."

"Phichit, stop," Yuuri flusters suddenly, ducking below the bar with his drink in hand. "I'm still processing this."

"You were  _just sassing me about_ _it_ , you loser!"

"Well, now I'm embarrassed!"

At that moment in time, Victor pops out from the back and, upon not finding Yuuri in front of him, lets his smile fall. "Aww. He went back to the bakery, then?"

Emil and Phichit  _barely_ keep from breaking down, crying with laughter. "Yep. Sorry, boss."

"The nerve of that man, leaving without giving me a hug goodbye." Victor pouts all the way back to the roaster, and Yuuri's whine finally makes the two men lose their minds.

//

Seung-gil and Yuuri start on their prep work for the bakery at four a.m. with heavy yawns. Both of them quietly go about their business for a couple hours until Mari comes in to help finish things. Once she gets there, Yuuri starts actively directing the shop employees, and around seven, his parents come in to make sure all of the cookies and cakes are properly decorated, packaged, and labelled for retail or delivery sales.

Mari flicks on the open sign at seven a.m., and that Monday morning, Victor drags his groggy ass into the bakery and slumps into a chair. As soon as he gets all of the beans put away in dry storage, Yuuri comes out from the kitchen. "Long weekend?"

"I love all of my children dearly," Victor grouses sleepily, stifling a yawn, "but Emil almost set my shop on fire yesterday, and Yuri immediately followed his example by burning two of his roasts beyond recognition. Not to mention, there was some sort of convention in town near the café, and no one told me that we needed anything until it was too late. Needless to say, I am  _exhausted_."

Yuuri laughs heartily. "Yeah. You wanna know the worst feeling in the world?"

"Sure." Victor props his head on his chin and stares at the younger man with clear blue eyes.

"Walking into a bakery with only six eggs left. Shit sucks."

Victor tosses his head back, nearly crying with mirth. "Just another day in the life, I suppose."

"Indeed."

After they chat for a few more minutes, Hiroko comes around and brings Victor a cup of coffee - his own, of course - along with a couple of misshapen cookies. "Good morning, Vicchan. Business still going well?"

"It's busy this time of year, what with the holidays sneaking up soon."

"Ugh," Yuuri rolls his eyes as he groans. "Don't remind me. It's not even Thanksgiving yet."

Yuuri's mother saunters away, and Victor leans on the table with a quiet smile. "Are you doing anything special?"

"What, for dinner?" Yuuri shakes his head with a chuckle. "Nah. It's too crazy at the shop, and it's too close to my birthday. I always take a couple days off for that."

"Would you be interested in having dinner with me, then?" Victor tries his luck and lays his hand palm-out on the table. "My treat."

Yuuri expects the invitation. He's been expecting it for weeks. Two and a half, to be exact. Still, he flushes up to his ears, averts his gaze, and oh-so-carefully puts his hand on top of Victor's, trembling as he curls their fingers together. "Sure. I'd like that. Let's go dutch, though."

"Anything you want," Victor whispers, staring at Yuuri like he's the most miraculous thing that's ever happened to him.

//

Through the weeks, Victor and Yuuri form a habit out of meeting at various spots around town. They both enjoy beer, fine food, and local culture, so this entices them to check out little spots they've never been before and meet their fellow small business workers. The dates go swimmingly, although both of them just end up rambling about work most of the time, but it gives them more time to study parts of each other.

Yuuri opens up to become a snarky, saucy man, who only gets embarrassed with Victor's extreme shamelessness to be physical with him in public. Victor is utterly affectionate, but he keeps his thoughts mostly to himself, and Yuuri finds that trying to see who the coffee-obsessed nerd is underneath it all is an enticing effort.

Neither of them usually find dating so fun and relaxing, so it's just nice. The added bonus of both of them being so tied up in their jobs is that if they have to reschedule or something, both men are understanding, generally running on empty by the time they curl up and scroll through their social media and text messages at night.

After they've been seeing each other for a few months, Yuuri settles into a routine of hanging out in the café on Sunday mornings while Victor relaxes against his side, squinting through miles of text for paperwork on his laptop. "What does this say?  _Due March..._?"

"March thirteenth," Yuuri says, sipping from  _his_ designated mug. In the background, Emil and Sara are dealing with a cranky old woman who is  _infuriated_ because the shop doesn't have automatic coffee ready at eleven a.m., and he can read the frustration clear on their faces when he looks up from the screen. "Man, that sucks. You want me to go up and say something?"

"No, it's alright," Victor replies distantly, waving his hands and rolling his eyes. "You simply cannot please them all." As he says that, the woman stalks out with a furrowed brow and Victor sighs. "So melodramatic! Of course I love my craft, but at the end of the day, it's only coffee."

" _Yes_ ," Emil and Sara chime in, leaning over the bar with equally frustrated expressions. Emil continues speaking, stroking his goatee. "It's like, people come in to a specialty shop, but they expect it to be just like a chain store, only smaller. It pisses me off!"

"If I have to hear somebody ask me whether we are  _A-Muse-ing_ one more time, I'm gonna flip," Sara hisses. Everyone breaks down into humorous anecdotes about their least favorite customers until Michele comes by to be snarky to Emil and overbearingly sweet to his sister. Victor and Yuuri go back to their own business in the corner of the café, and until Yuri comes in to relieve Emil, they have a fairly productive day.

The blonde looks at everyone inside the shop, customers, employees, and affiliates alike, and immediately groans when he sets his bag down. "Don't you people have anything better to do?"

Sara and Michele laugh in sync. Emil waves goodbye and flounces off with a smile. Yuuri and Victor just lean their heads together and grin at him. " _Nope_!" They answer quickly, cackling when Yuri flips them off before clocking in.

//

In April sometime, things take a turn for the slightly more serious. Since the men have been together for a few months, Yuuri's family has welcomed Victor into their home and the bakery with loving hearts, and Victor's found-family of his café employees (and his  _actual_  grumpy nephew who would disown his uncle if given the opportunity) brings Yuuri into the fold. Of course, the two of them have issues every once in a while, because no relationship is perfect, but around the beginning of the five month mark, Victor tells all of his inner circle about his plans for the year.

"I'm going to open a second café," Victor says triumphantly, noting the exhausted faces everyone's been sporting since just after St. Patrick's Day. The meeting is being held between the staff of  _Yutopia_ ,  _Muse_ , and  _Vines_ , a cider brewery owned by Christophe Giacometti, another one of Victor's business partners. Yuri, Chris, and Yuuri sit around a table for this announcement and all scrunch their faces up in tandem.

"Where the  _fuck_ are we gonna get the money for that?" Yuri grouses with his hand pointed at his uncle.

"A new location means new product on shelves," Yuuri offers helpfully, but truthfully, he looks just as drained as the blonde college student. "I mean, I'm cool with it, but how soon are we talking about here?"

"Hopefully I can get it open by January."

"Holy hell," Chris whistles with a smirk. "It sounds like you've got things in the works. You planning on finally stocking alcohol here?"

"Thinking about it, yes," Victor replies quickly, running a hand through his hair.

Yuuri furrows his brow, and the blonde Yuri is equally offput. The angry, younger man snarls, "We don't have the  _stock_ for that shit right now."

Victor deflates momentarily, but his eyes are filled with furious energy. "We'll never know until we try."

"Enough," Yuuri eventually snaps at the two of them. "We can discuss the particulars later. For now, I'll run a pricing sheet for my shop to see what we can do about our ordering system in a few months. Christophe, you guys can chat about what you're expecting to do business wise and how this affects you." He stands up and pats Victor gently on the shoulder before he shuffles out. "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah." Victor moves to kiss his hand before sinking into the chair and covering his eyes with his forearm.

Yuri and Christophe stare at him while they watch the cogs turn in his brain. Christophe eventually pipes up and says, "How incredibly productive."

"Shut up," Victor petulantly whines.

"You're cute when you're dating, by the way. Boyfriend's cute too."

Yuri gags and Victor chuckles, the stress draining out of his expression just slightly. "Oh god, another one. I'm gonna fuckin' puke!! Why am I surrounded by shitty adults?"

"Yura," Victor grouses tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Part of becoming a  _real_ adult is admitting that sometimes, life just sucks and you acknowledge your failures."

"One of those failures was definitely  _not_ tapping that ass," Chris interjects, and Yuri retches  _again_ , horrified.

Victor high fives him before wrapping up the meeting and heading over to Yuuri's apartment.

When he gets there, his boyfriend is dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, looking tired and probably not in the mood for much entertaining. Yuuri slumps onto the couch and waits for Victor to toe off his shoes while he flicks through his phone. He gets so swept up in his thoughts that he doesn't notice Victor whispering to him until those calm blue eyes are staring him down very closely.

"What's wrong?" The older man asks in what he hopes is a diffident tone.

Yuuri shakes his head. "It's nothing."

"It's never nothing with a face like that."

A period of silence passes between them before Yuuri sighs and buries his face between his knees. "I'm just worried, I guess."

With an inquisitive expression, Victor asks, "About what?"

"God, everything!" Yuuri eventually snaps, refusing to look at Victor while he has a nervous breakdown. "Life. Us. Work! For god's sake, fucking work, you didn't think to ask me how I felt about you opening up a new location?"

Victor visibly deflates, expression becoming defensive. "I thought you'd be happy. Y'know, with more revenue coming in and a new location, it's a better way for both of us to get our names out around town."

"You didn't think I'd care about seeing you less often?" Yuuri's head comes up and tears are in his eyes. Victor starts because he's so surprised to see him crying that it makes his throat run dry. "You didn't think I'd have to worry too much about my parent's financial situation on top of how much I - I just," his voice dies down and cracks, and he finishes softly, turning away to hide his face at the very end. "I like you a lot, and maybe it's too early to talk about love, but I...I  _do_ feel like I love you. This shouldn't have been something I had to find out from you in a business meeting."

"I love you too, Yuuri," Victor replies in a daze, frantically trying to come up with the right words to say. "I'm sorry. I just didn't think. I was so excited, and I didn't think about that." He waits for Yuuri to look at him again before he reaches for Yuuri's hand, pausing for a nod before Victor interlaces their fingers. "I should have told you. I guess I wouldn't have known what to say if I suddenly decided I didn't want to go through with opening a second branch after all, but I need to trust you more."

"Yeah," Yuuri sobs quietly, leaning against Victor now, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his own t-shirt. "Yeah, you do."

"Sorry."

Yuuri's breath shudders as he whispers. "I know you are. I'm sorry too."

The two of them slowly get their shit together and Victor eventually stands to get Yuuri tissues and a blanket so that they can curl up together and watch mindless television for the night.

//

Phichit and Yuri can read the emotion all over Victor's face in the morning. Yuri ignores him, because his uncle is often withdrawn and moody. After dealing with a few rowdy children running around in the store, knocking all of their magazines to the floor and constantly making the door chime, the dark-skinned man breaks away from the register to go to the back and chat with his boss. Victor is just sitting at his desk, an array of papers skewed over his laptop, which is uncharacteristically messy. "What's wrong, big man?"

"Just the usual," Victor murmurs somberly, squinting at the fine print of the documents. "I'm thinking about getting Yuuri a gift when I ask him to move in with me, but I don't know what to get."

"A knitting set?" Phichit offers before scratching the back of his head. "Or maybe vinyl records! Every time he comes in, we talk about old music and turntables. He has one at home."

"I see." Victor remembers Yuuri pointing it out to him one night. Usually, by the time he slinks into Yuuri's apartment, either the TV or the record player is already on, so he usually doesn't pay the thing much attention. He feels like this is a worthwhile idea. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Are you in the doghouse?" Phichit's voice pitches while he asks and Victor slumps in his seat.

"Guess you could say that, yeah," Victor sighs. "I really screwed up big time. It's been a week, and I don't think Yuuri's still angry with me, but while I make all these calls and send all these emails, our time together is dwindling. Yuuri is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time, and I just don't want to lose him over something stupid like my store expanding."

"Dating sounds tough," Phichit airily comments, watching as his boss rolls his eyes. "Anyways, it sounds like you've got everything worked out. What's Chris have to say?"

"Yeah," Yuri finally chimes in loudly, one foot in the walkway near the front bar. "What  _does_ he have to say?"

"He's all about us getting our liquor permit and such, I guess." Victor scrunches up his nose while he thinks back to all of his latest texts from Chris, which are either filled with pictures of the blonde with other beautiful men in various states of undress, or detailed lists of what he could or could not sell to Victor wholesale next year. "Why do you ask?"

"I dunno," Yuri snarks from afar, "Seems like he's the only one besides your  _boyfriend_ who'll put up with your massive shit."

Sensing Victor's fury rising, Phichit negates the younger man's comment by calmly saying, " _And_ , he's been in favor of you and Yuuri from the start. I think he could have some good perspective on the whole thing."

Victor raises an eyebrow in consideration. "I'll send him a message, see if he can talk. When did you two get so smart?"

"I don't have to be smart; you're just dumb," Yuri replies.

"With great instagramming comes great responsibility," Phichit says, winking as he sidles back to the front.

Victor hisses at both of them and they go back to work.

//

Chris hands Victor a bottle of his new blackberry mead and laughs in his face. "Sounds like you two need a vacation." Victor raises an eyebrow while he takes a swig, and the blonde leans over the bar. "I mean, how else are you meant to rekindle your flame?"

"It's too busy to leave the shop right now," Victor whines, not discounting the idea - just thinking about places he can take Yuuri when they  _do_ have the time to go somewhere together.

"Have a staycation, then," the blonde picks at his nails and fiddles with his phone. "Take him out. Wine and dine him.  _Don't_ pull your stupid computer out. Go get a pair of glasses, since you can't see shit."

"Hey! I'm trying to wait until I absolutely  _have_ to get them," Victor murmurs. "I don't think they look good on my face."

Chris leers at him. "But you like the way they look on Yuuri's?"

"Yuuri's very handsome."

Chris winks. "I'm aware _._ " Victor hisses and he holds up his hands. "I'm not trying to steal your man, I'm just agreeing with you."

Victor pouts and toys with the wooden counter. "You really think he'd be alright with that?"

"He was just saying that he wanted to spend more time with you," Chris replies casually, moving to organize the display of take-home products. "So spend time with him."

"It's that easy?"

Chris looks over to see that Victor is wide-eyed and flushed with surprise. "Yeah, man. It's that easy."

Victor zones out vacantly for the better part of an hour, so Chris just keeps giving him new bottles of cider and mead, waiting for him to snap out of his funk.

//

From the very start, their full vacation day does  _not_ go how Victor had planned for it to go.

To begin with,  _Yuuri_ is the one who invites him out with an apology gift in the form of a plush that looks like a small brown poodle, which is just foul play. Victor fumes to himself, thinking,  _how dare my boyfriend be so cute!_ Then Victor decides to get even and show him a bracelet he found at a thrift store, made with little plastic swirls designed to look like vinyl records. Yuuri beams at the gift, bashfully kissing Victor on the cheek.

"Loser," Yuuri reprimands him softly, barely keeping a smile off of his face.

" _Your_ loser," Victor shoots back, burrowing against him in the booth.

"My loser," Yuuri ruffles his hair while they wait for their meals to arrive.

Eventually, they manage to talk about business and get all the particulars worked out, especially since Spring is fast approaching its' close. Victor throws out a proposition as they hurry out into the warm afternoon. "Say," he lilts his voice while he laces their free hands together, "Would you want to open a bakery cafe?"

"What?" The slightly shorter man seizes in surprise. "Next year?"

"What? God, no," the silver-haired man replies quickly, leaning into his boyfriend. "In the future some time."

"I'm not sure," Yuuri shifts his gaze so that he's watching traffic pass by. "I've never really baked without my parents around, you know?"

Victor slings an arm around Yuuri's shoulder. "You're their star patissier. It would be hard for them to replace you, but I know you have the talent to own a business."

Yuuri makes a strange expression, but he doesn't shake Victor's arm off. Instead, he loops his arm around Victor's waist and walks back to the car with him, silent until they get back to his place.

Victor asks him if, when September rolls around and his lease is up, he'd be cool with moving in together.

Yuuri rolls his eyes and dips Victor low in his arms, kissing him softly on the nose. "I'd love to."

Victor beams and tugs Yuuri onto the floor with him, pressing their lips together despite the pain of their clashing foreheads.

//

Sara gasps when she sees Victor walk in disheveled, but refrains from saying anything. It's a Wednesday, so he usually comes in all chipper and bright, ready to see his boyfriend show up with a bundle of sweets and a special dessert just for him. She whispers conspiratorially to Emil, who speculates that the two of them have had another fight.

They deal with the onslaught of customers before Phichit comes in to relieve Emil, cleaning up the condiment stand and tidying the pour over bar before he puts his bag down. Phichit says, "Man, heavy mood in here," to which Emil chuckles dryly and Sara rolls her eyes.

Victor slinks up to the bar for a fresh cup of coffee, and all three of them jerk in place, startled to see the bags under his eyes. He starts pouring beans into a small cup, weighing them out, and Sara coughs while Emil makes his escape. "You look tired," she finally says while Victor grumbles his way through turning on the kettles and wetting the filter.

"I  _am_ tired," Victor replies snappily. "Moving is a horrible chore. I haven't slept very well for the last couple of weeks, and payroll is coming up. There aren't enough hours in the day."

"Tell me about it," Yuri yells from the roaster, dropping his roast just in time to hear his complaint. "Speaking of, what the fuck is this roast board supposed to say?"

"Watch your mouth," Victor barks back, aggressively tossing his ground beans into the filter, much to the stunned surprise of Sara and Phichit. "I'll be back there in a minute. You need to do Friday orders after you do our shelf, so start with the El Salvadors."

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Yuri snorts as he shoves his hands into his pockets and saunters up front. "Or should I say  _who_? Baker boy?"

Victor slams his hands down on the counter and glares at his nephew with all of his righteous fury. " _Yura_. Do not test my patience right now. You know how I feel about you calling him names."

"You call me names constantly," Yuri spits back, and Victor's hackles raise. He almost looks ready to slap the blonde in the face, but he refrains with a quiet whisper. He asks Sara to finish his pour over and stalks back to his desk, a brooding, dark aura hanging around the bar where the three young adults stand.

"Well," Sara finally says, swallowing dryly, "You really screwed that one up, buddy."

Yuri kicks the floor with his sneakers, guiltily avoiding Phichit and Sara's gazes.

When Yuuri arrives at last, he too looks worse for the wear. His glasses are askew, his pastries are even more extravagant than usual, and he has a little tupperware container full of his dessert for his boyfriend. He takes in Sara and Phichit's worn faces and smiles tiredly. "Hey guys. Everything good?"

They both flock to him for hugs and try to keep their feelings under wraps. They take the delivery back for restocking, then direct him to the back, and he sighs. Yuuri dusts off his hands and heads back, adjusting his cardigan. He passes Yuri Plisetsky and waves to the student, who is focused on the timer for the beans in the drum.

Eventually, he arrives at the back desk and lets Victor draw him into his lap. Victor breathes in Yuuri's scent and buries his face in the fabric of the cardigan. "I just want to be done," Victor murmurs softly, voice strained.

"We will be, soon," Yuuri says quietly, lacing their fingers together over his legs. He sits there in silence for a few minutes before saying, "Hey, I have to get back to work soon. _Victor_."

Victor has dozed off behind him, and Yuuri rolls his eyes. He pulls away and puts Victor's laptop to sleep so the man can lie back and nap.

When he comes back to the front, he gives all of  _Muse_ 's employees a benevolent look. "Sorry about him," Yuuri apologizes on both of their behalves with a small bow. "Between the shop opening soon and our move, he's been dead on his feet."

He sees them off with a wave, taking his empty containers back to the bakery and leaving all of the café employees in higher spirits.

//

On a peaceful night in October, Yuuri takes charge of their alone time. Yuuri pulls Victor against his side in  _their_ bed, rutting gently against Victor's thigh. Victor keens and purrs, leaning into the motion with a flush creeping up his cheeks. "You know," Yuuri murmurs softly, dragging his tongue down Victor's neck as he pulls down his own pants. "It's gonna be our one year soon."

"Yeah?" Victor blearily quips back, urgently trying to wiggle out of his button-down and whining when Yuuri rolls his hips again.

"Or pretty close. You asked me out around my birthday last year." Yuuri nips at Victor's chest and cups Victor's ass so that their groins are even closer together. "You feeling good?"

" _Hell yes_ ," Victor chokes out as Yuuri tenderly traces the shape of Victor's cock through his underwear. "Please, Yuuri, I want you to touch me."

"You do, huh?" Yuuri bites his own lower lip, lowers his lashes, grinds down on his boyfriend and makes Victor moan. Quietly, fervently, he whispers, "Tell me how much, please."

"I want everything," Victor pulls himself together to shudder and wrap his arms around Yuuri's gyrating hips, licking his lips hungrily. "I want you to touch me everywhere. I want to be the sole object of your focus. Oh  _fucking_ _hell_ , you know I'm not good at this." Victor gives up and ruts up against Yuuri, groaning when he receives a positive response. "You're being really cute and sexy right now, and I'd really like it if we had sex, please."

Yuuri rolls his eyes and pushes the hair out of Victor's eyes. "Okay. You have a preference tonight?"

"Any way you wanna do it," Victor answers quickly, happy when Yuuri peels both of their sets of briefs off and reaches for lube in the nightstand drawer. He winces in pain when Yuuri's toenails catch the skin of his thighs, but manages to stay relatively hard and he keens when Yuuri holds him in his palm.

"Me inside you, but on top," Yuuri's lips tickle his sides as he wrenches a hand under Victor's leg and tentatively toys with the underside of Victor's dick. "That cool?"

"Sure," Victor replies airily, putting his hands on Yuuri's arms. "Sounds good, babe."

Yuuri dives into his boyfriend with flushed cheeks and stifled embarrassment, laughing against his chest while they have sex and loving every minute of it.

//

When Victor gets his second location opened, Sara is roasting part-time, Yuri is roasting close to full-time when school is out, and Yuuri is still organizing the bakery. He has to bring on three new hires and train them before the store opens, but the transition is overall peaceful. Seung-gil keeps a watchful eye over the bakery when Yuuri cannot be there.

Honestly, with Yuuri so busy teaching the new bakers, rushing off to  _Muse_ , and making deliveries, Seung-gil is the de facto lead patissier at the store. Of course, Yuuri keeps up the reputation of the store, and is basically the reason they are so successful, although he would deny this until his dying day. His mother and father leave most of the financial affairs and product management in his hands.

The opening of the new lounge-café brings a lot of traffic into the bakery, mostly because Victor had a whole display installed that's dedicated to  _Yutopia_ sweets. Chris's meads and ciders are all the talk of the town, as well as the beers they keep on tap from local microbreweries and wines from small-batch companies in town.

Victor and Yuuri have very little time together as the beginning of the year ushers in several fairs and events, but at night they curl up around each other and sleep sweatily between their shared sheets.

//

Things settle back to normal around March. Victor collapses on the couch and pulls Yuuri into his lap while he closes his cool blue eyes.

"I missed you."

Yuuri mumbles back, "Just saw you this morning."

"Still missed you."

"We went out for breakfast, Victor."

Victor whines, wiggling so that both of them are more comfortable, yawning a bit. "I miss you when you leave for the grocery store."

Both of their dogs bark for attention, coming over to the couch and rolling over for belly rubs, much to the annoyance of the two tired men. "You see, Victor? Our kids heard you whining and came over to whine with you."

"We all just love you so much,  _arf_ ," Victor says, and Yuuri snickers, wiping crust from his eyelashes.

Yuuri stands up and adjusts his glasses, shuffling over to pet his big babies. Lastly, he kisses Victor stupid for five minutes and pulls away with a tender, disbelieving look, saying, "Can't believe you're really still here with me."

The words throw Victor so off guard that he's startled.

He didn't know that Yuuri had been concerned about him leaving.

//

Victor works on his business in private - or, well, less so than last time, because he consults his core team back at his first store to make sure his idea is a good one. This surprise is going to be his best yet.

For months, he tirelessly works on his pet project, between his car breaking down, between the necessary staycation days with his lover, between shopping for two locations and consistently losing his mind with his employees all having something annoying to say about each other.

At one point, he realizes that he's let Yuri fall out of a strong position in a family craft, but he doesn't even care anymore. By the time November rolls around, Victor Nikiforov is ready to pull his hair out and he hasn't even reached the most important part of the month.

Yuuri knows he's up to something, but through the course of their relationship, he's learned that he has to have his alone time, and Victor has to have time to explore. It keeps both of them sane. At the end of the day, Victor will come home and whine about how his feet hurt and Yuuri will hug him until he feels better while piano instrumentals loop on his record player.

Then, that fateful day, he takes Yuuri to the perfect building. He's talked to his staff, he's talked to Yuuri's family, Seung-gil, and many other bakeries in town to make sure he's right. Yuuri stares at the faded letters in awe, frozen in shock when Victor gets down on knee.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you," Victor says strongly, willing himself not to break down when he sees that Yuuri is beginning to cry. "I know I told you a long time ago that I wanted this, and I wanted to know if you still want this." He places the black box in Yuuri's hand and hopes that his hands aren't shaking as badly as he thinks they are. " _Our_ store."

Before he answers the proposal, Yuuri rasps out, "Who's going to run the other places?"

"Your mother wants to make Mari the manager of  _Yutopia_. She said that she'd sell it to whomever would like it if your sister gets tired of running the company, and apparently Seung-gil is planning on sticking around for a while. Yura can run the original  _Muse_ roastery. It'll give him something to drive all his angsty energy into." Yuuri laughs wetly at that, still blinking back tears. "Phichit wants to run my other store, and I'm happy to let him do it. That means it'll just be you and me, Yuuri," Victor sheepishly finishes. "If you don't think we'll drive each other insane, that is."

"You suck," Yuuri sobs softly, pulling Victor up off of the ground. "Yes. Yes, you stupid dumb man. Of course I want this.  _God_."

"I'm thinking we can open our place in two years," Victor says, putting the engagement ring on Yuuri's hand before he bundles the smaller, sniffling man in his arms. "It might take a while for the bar buildout to be finished at the same time as the kitchen, but that's the idea."

"Mom and Dad are going to be so floored," Yuuri says, shaking his head lightly. "Nobody could have imagined me getting married in a million years."

"Nobody except me, of course," Victor flirts harmlessly.

Yuuri pokes the top of his head and digs in his nails, waiting for Victor to wince before he burrows his face further into Victor's scarf. "Fuck you."

"Out here?" Victor gasps. "My fiancé is so _daring_!"

Yuuri cries harder at those words, and he is inconsolable until Victor gets him back to the car.

//

They get married in the summer. It's a rowdy affair.

The only person who comes with reluctance is Yuri, who has recently made a new friend in his college courses and would much rather be hanging out with them than shooting the breeze with a bunch of crazy people downing champagne and dancing in formal white clothing.

After the wedding, the men scamper off to their honeymoon, the last week of peace they'll have before their shared business really starts to get in gear.

When they open doors, the signboard reads  _Y & V_. They slave away many nights for the beauty of blearily pushing the glass doors open and greeting customers with a smile, feeling fond and calm as they begin a new journey together.

Yuri still yells at them when they call  _Muse_. Seung-gil works hard, but gives Mari the cold shoulder, only nodding softly to Yuuri when he stops by to make sure that  _Yutopia_ is doing well without him. Phichit, Chris, Sara, and Emil stick around in their lives and tell the men that ever since their store opened, they've sunk into their own world, making quite a profit crafting little Japanese sweets and making craft coffee to order.

At night, they lock up after offset shifts, walk home to one husband in the apartment feeding the dogs, and sleep in front of bad reality TV flickering in the background.

Some days suck. Some days are relentless, and they contemplate over how many people they should have on the staff other than themselves to handle the load. But at the end of the day, they're still sickeningly in love, and they let a lot of stuff go because it's just worth it to have what they have.

It's worth it to have this  _home_ , so Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov curls up against Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov and smiles widely, more affectionate with every passing day.

They lie in until their dogs come and jump over them, making both men groan.

They get up and eat breakfast at the table with peaceful expressions, and they don't have to say anything.

Good things don't have to be questioned, and so, they don't.

**Author's Note:**

> i work at a coffee shop in rl and you can pry this au from my cold, dead hands tbh
> 
> (lmfao this is more about...the backside of a café + a bakery, but whatever. SORRY,,,)
> 
> chat w/ me on tumblr!! @[wbtrashking](http://wbtrashking.tumblr.com/)


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